-Livemint.com * MGNREGS guarantees 100 days of work in a financial year to a rural household whose adult members volunteer for unskilled manual work * In 2019-20, which was considered a normal monsoon year without rural distress, 2.65 billion person days were created NEW DELHI: The Union government on Sunday injected an extra ₹40,000 crore into the national rural jobs programme, extending a helping hand to millions of rural poor, as well as...

-TheWire.in Eighty per cent or more of the demand in the economy has vanished thanks to the lockdown he hastily announced, with no warning or preparation. The only way out is to pump money in to revive demand. In  a discussion on NDTV about the contents of the third tranche of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s stimulus package for the economy, Yogendra Yadav, one of India’s most respected psephologists, called it ‘entertainment’. Yadav...

-The Indian Express Women are bearing a disproportionate amount of the burden that the imposition of lockdowns, shrinking of economic opportunity has created. While much of COVID-19’s epidemiology remains shrouded in mystery, we know that it claims the lives of men more than women — at double the rate in some countries. Other coronavirus outbreaks, such as the 2003 SARS and 2012 MERS epidemics, were also more deadly for men than women. But...

-TheWire.in The outlook for kharif 2020 contains a few good signs, but much will depend on the monsoon. Since the harvesting of most rabi crops was completed in time, despite the nationwide lockdown from March 24 onwards, an impression has gained ground that all is well with Indian agriculture. It is true that due to extraordinary efforts made by government machinery, procurement of wheat in Punjab, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh has been more...

-BusinessToday.in Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's reform announcements related to coal, aviation, power sectors will suit these players * Adani Power, Tata Power, JSW Energy, Reliance Power will lock horns in the bid for thermal coal blocks * Existing captive users like Tata Power, Reliance Power, Tata Steel must bid at regular intervals to retain mining licence * Adani Enterprises Ltd had recently emerged as the highest bidder for six airports * Adani bought the Mumbai...